Oh no

(tags pre-order, telephone card, Card Captor Sakura)

Oh no.

Oh no.

Oh no.

Blu-Ray a deal? No deal?

(tags Blu-ray region A, 水樹奈々, Card Captor Sakura)

The Gamers Kobe store was showing off the new Nana Mizuki (水樹奈々) concert Blu-Ray disc "Live Fighter Blue x Red" in big HD. I was entranced. I could see the rivulets of sweat beading off her face. And she sure has great costumes. At that point I really wanted to get a Blu-Ray player. haha. Seiyuu3 explored the price difference between the DVDs and Blu-Ray version: 50 yen (9450yen retail). In the end I didn't bother, because I still have to watch her other concert DVD.

And I checked the pre-order for the Blu-Ray edition of Card Captor Sakura. (カードキャプターさくら) at my local Animate. There doesn't seem to store extras this time around, which makes me balk.

Card Captor Sakura as my first Blu-Ray?

(tags anime, BD region A, Card Captor Sakura)

It's official, Card Captor Sakura (カードキャプターさくら) on TV is moving to Blu-Ray Disc. Mr. Zepy brought me the news and I commented like a rabid fan I am. This product is a two part-er, with the Clow Card series (eps 1-46) at 8_1900 yen on 2009/03/27 and the Sakura Card series (eps 47-70) at 4_9350 yen on 2009/06/26.

If I buy the complete TV series, I will be out 13_1250 yen. Sofmap (C, S) gives me the 12% discount, for a total of 11_5000 yen, while Amazon (C, S) and the store that leaked the info, Kinokuniya's Forest Plus (C, S), both give a 24% discount which makes it 9_9750 yen.

I, uh, previously bought the same product when it was on DVD (3 box version) at retail price at Animate, because of exclusive telephone cards and clear files (OMG, no pictures, where are they?! Have a gander at the exclusive figure, though). So I am waiting for Animate's goodies announcement with anticipation (hopefully here: C, S). Still would it be worth 3_1500 yen difference?

Is Blu-Ray even worth the cash compared to my DVDs? Not having any BDs or even a HD set, I really can't say. One store claims that this is a remastering, so it might not be a simple upscaling from the DVD. I hope so, for the price that Geneon is asking.

My bud in anime is dead-set on getting this BD set. He doesn't have to worry about owning a DVD set, though, shiku shiku.

At the time of this blog, there's no official announcement that I could find.

ho-e! Card Captor Sakura TV series DVD box 1

(tags anime, DVD region 2, Card Captor Sakura)

Recently I haven't been watching much downloaded anime stuff, shifting rather to DVDs I got. I've been making fine viewing progress with the Card Captor Sakura TV series on DVD (カードキャプターさくら). In fact, today I finished the first box of three, which is 24 episodes.

Every episode is very kawaii, while supplying lots of action. Dresses are of course very nice, while having no magic-girl-change scene is great, unlike Nanoha, Yumeria, and other anime I've admitted to buying. Kero-chan is totally cute (or maybe I just like small yellow animal-like things), and I totally respect (久川綾) Aya Hisakawa's vocal chops. (岩男潤子) Junko Iwao's Tomoyo is also the greatest. Iwao had a CD release recently according to j1mOne and my own store observations but I haven't yet checked it out. I'll buy it at Gamers if they have it, I need the points.

Coming back to the anime, there is also some mystery and innuendo about alternative sexual orientations. I keep wondering if this is to capture the fans who like yuri and "boys' love", ie. yaoi, no I mean shonen-ai. (I had to look those up...) Maybe it's best to imagine it as one-sided puppy love interest, irrespective of gender. Yes, concentrate of the blushing and the emotions, that's the kawaii part, and not the physical part.

Anyways, I rather not think that the first 24 episodes/5 discs cost me about 3_5000 yen, but that's two years ago and a different me (hahaha). Wait a minute, that's only 1500 yen an episode, more recent purchases have been around the 3000 yen range. *boggle* Eventually this anime will be sold in better formats and it will look better because the source is analog not digital. 1998. When you could actually buy cels. However, I continually consider that I won't move towards a Blu-ray or better media edition of anything. DVDs, the last type of media I will ever buy, just like my parents with their vinyl and cassette tapes. (yeah right) Oh wait, my dad has been collecting DVDs recently. Maybe there's no hope for me at all? :-]

I still haven't figure out which episode the cel that I bought long ago comes from. I have a sinking feeling that I passed it already. I put it away for some reason, but now it's in an accessable place for instant reviewing. When I find it, up goes the picture and the "boasting".

Taking statistics keeps me on track. I have been rating each episode. In fact I've been quantitatively rating almost all forms of content. Call it the iTunes syndrome.

The "days since last" line means that there are x days between watching episodes. Consider that I started again from episode 1 on 2007-11-24, it's been slow going. But I've been picking up speed ever since the start of the year, even watching a couple of episodes in one day. It must be because I'm not watching enough downloaded stuff this cours or the raws providers getting arrested. Heh. Danger. :-/

As for the ratings, I have no idea what my metric is. Kawaii? Cuteness? Tear-jerkin' factor? Would watch it again? Would buy it? Felt good about it? What would a 2 or 1 star mean? In any case I don't see much correlation between the ratings and my own mood to continuously watch the episodes. I love line graphs, though. Dig it.

Release! Really watching Card Captor Sakura DVD now

(tags Card Captor Sakura, anime, DVD region 2)

I really mean it now. I'm going to watch Card Captor Sakura on DVD. "Release!"

Recently I've come across bunches of people naming Card Captor Sakura as their favorite anime of all time. Okay okay.

So I started from the beginning to make sure I got into the mood of the anime. Unfortunately I kept on comparing it to Mahou Shoujo Lyrical Nanoha (魔法少女リリカルなのは)! I was disappointed with the Nanoha second season, so I really must excise Nanoha from my memory before it taints CCS. I suppose this "magic girl" mystique with the revolving halos or magic circles and books and cards is an anime tradition that extends before CCS.

Still no Card Captor Sakura movie collection

(tags DVD region 2, anime, Card Captor Sakura, purchase, failure)

I still haven't found the newly released Card Captor Sakura movie collection (「カードキャプターさくら THE MOVIE COLLECTION」) at a price I want. I have been waiting for Animate to have the goods but unfortunately they don't have it in stock and there's no omake. Sofmap doesn't have it and pre-orders were sold out. I went to Gamers Kobe, and they had one copy at full price. I have enough points at Gamers so I held out, but the day after it was gone. Even Joshin didn't have a copy.

I want to go to Nipponbashi today to search for it, but I'm stuck blogging. Oh wait, I can stop now.